DOVER — The recipe is simple yet effective: pass, set, hit. And then repeat as needed.

For good measure, add in some solid serving and a signature defense. Oh yeah, and don't get too excited.

That's the St. Thomas Aquinas High School volleyball team for you.

The Saints, now 10-0 in Division II, beat Coe-Brown in three games Wednesday (25-14, 25-14, 25-21). The Bears fell to 8-4. STA has won all 10 matches in 3-0 sweeps.

St. Thomas relied on clutch serving from Maria Chrisom late in the first game to pull away. Regina Mastrobattista sparked the win in the second game with three kills and four service points. In the third game, St. Thomas was down 11-9, but went on a 7-1 run to go ahead for good 16-12. Two kills from Emma Keane and three points on Chelsey Puffer's serve proved integral.

“We always try to hold serve because we know that's important,” said STA coach Kristie Holtz. “Obviously in that first game with what Maria did, we fought to hold serve there and that gave us some momentum.”

“We played them before, so we studied the tendencies,” Cecilia Chrisom said. “We knew generally where they hit the majority of the time. We just tried our best to read it.”

Coe-Brown, which hurt itself with too many hitting errors, was led by Debbie Peabody with 31 digs and Sadie Steffen with eight assists.

“We knew it was going to be tough coming in,” said Coe-Brown coach Rick Veno. “St. Thomas is undefeated, it's their home court and they had a rowdy crowd on hand. It might have taken us a little bit to get going. I think the pressure of playing in that environment cost us.”

Coe-Brown cut STA's lead to 15-13 in Game 1 on a Liz Peabody block.

The Saints responded with a game-ending 10-1 run. It started with a sideout on MacKenzie Geppart's kill and continued for eight straight points on Maria Chrisom's serve, which included three aces.

“I knew we needed some points to get up,” said Maria Chrisom. “I served my hardest.”

In all three games, once the Saints got ahead, they stayed ahead. Coe-Brown struggled at time with hitting errors and STA' vocal student section, was a lively distraction in the first two games.

“We had some hitting errors,” Veno added. “We didn't challenge their serve receive as well as we would have wanted to. That was part of our game plan and we didn't do it well.”

“When we have fans we have so much more energy,” Cecilia Chrisom said.

Sitting at 10-0 atop the D-II standings as the lone unbeaten team doesn't seem to concern the Saints too much.

“We're just trying to play our game and not get too psyched out by not losing yet,” Maria Chrisom added. “They're a good team, but we just played our game and came out on top.”

“We really don't talk about the fact that we're undefeated,” Cecilia Chrisom said. “We just do the same thing everyday, it's routine. We just work hard.”

St. Thomas visits Pelham Friday, while the Bears travel to Windham the same night.